Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of (a) single parent lead carers and (b) all lead carers are self-employed.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In March 2025, 8% of single parent lead carers on Universal Credit (UC) were self-employed, compared to 8% of all lead carers on UC. This includes both claimants who are classified as gainfully self-employed and non-gainfully self-employed.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of self-employed (a) single parent lead carers and (b) all lead carers meet their Minimum Income Floor.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In March 2025, 32% of self-employed single parent lead carers on UC were earning at or above their Minimum Income Floor (MIF), compared to 31% of all self-employed lead carers on UC. This only includes claimants who are currently gainfully self-employed and have their MIF applied.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many couples meet the administrative earnings threshold for Universal Credit with (a) one parent and (b) both parents in paid employment.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In March 2025, there were 418,000 couples in receipt of Universal Credit payment who met or exceeded the administrative earnings threshold. Of these, 263,000 did so with one parent earning, and the remaining 155,000 did so with two parents earning.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of single parent lead carers with work requirements meet their Administrative Earnings Threshold.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The number of single parent lead carers on Universal Credit (UC) with work requirements who earn at or above the individual Administrative Earnings Threshold (AET) was 289,000 in March 2025. This is equal to 47% of the UC lead carer caseload who have work requirements.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what information her Department holds on the number of children that live in families with a parent or carer that receives (a) the Universal Credit Limited Capability for Work-Related Activity element, (b) the Personal Independence Payment daily living component, where their claim was awarded less than four points in all daily living activities and (c) both, broken down by constituency.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
(a) Official statistics for the number of households on Universal Credit (UC) are published every three months on Stat-Xplore, with breakdowns available by various geographies including Westminster Parliamentary Constituency. In addition, breakdowns are available by the number of children and the different UC elements, including the Limited Capability for Work-Related Activity payment. The latest statistics are available to November 2024.
Users can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest and, if needed, can access general guidance on how to extract the information required. For guidance on the UC datasets on Stat-Xplore, see the Universal Credit Official Statistics Stat-Xplore User Guide.
(b) (c) Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is an individual-based benefit and therefore DWP does not hold family information on its administrative systems, so this information is not available.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact the new salary thresholds for Skilled Worker visas on staffing levels in her Department.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Whilst the impact of changes to the Skilled Worker Salary threshold are affecting a very small proportion of staff within the Department, visa expiry and potential options for obtaining a future work visa are specific to individuals’ circumstances and the Home Office legislation which applies at the time that their current visa expires.
As current employees’ visa expiry dates span several years and not all will be impacted by the changes to the skilled worker salary thresholds, the department does not expect changes to the Skilled Worker salary threshold to negatively impact on service or resource levels.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what delegated flexibilities are available to her Department for calculating (a) working hours and (b) actual hours worked.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Terms and conditions of employment outside the Senior Civil Service are delegated to departments but must be managed in the public interest and in accordance with the Civil Service Management Code, and through consultation with the Cabinet Office and His Majesty's Treasury.
Where a term of employment is contractual, like working hours, it cannot be changed for existing employees other than with their expressed agreement or through collective bargaining with the trade unions.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to support staff in her Department who are employed on Skilled Workers Visas and whose salary is below the new salary threshold.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
All staff employed in the department on a skilled worker visa have a salary above the skilled worker minimum salary threshold introduced in April 2024.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the gender breakdown is for Universal Credit claimants who are single parents.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many women have been granted an exemption to the two-child limit as a result of non-consensual conception since April 2017.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The requested information is provided in the table below and shows in April of each year from 2017 to 2024, the number of households with a non-consensual conception exception to the two-child policy, who were women (if single claimants) or couples in which at least one claimant was a woman.
| Single UC Households, with a non-consensual conception exception | Couple UC households, with a non-consensual conception exception |
Apr-17 | 0 | 0 |
Apr-18 | 10 | - |
Apr-19 | 140 | 10 |
Apr-20 | 560 | 40 |
Apr-21 | 1,000 | 70 |
Apr-22 | 1,500 | 110 |
Apr-23 | 2,100 | 130 |
Apr-24 | 2,400 | 170 |
Notes: